


okay

by escapismandsharpobjects



Category: Prodigal Son (TV 2019)
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s01e19 The Professionals, Gen, call it a continuation, i'm not really sure what this is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23763538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/escapismandsharpobjects/pseuds/escapismandsharpobjects
Summary: a brief continuation for s01e19 the professionals set immediately after the episode ends
Relationships: Gil Arroyo & Malcolm Bright
Comments: 20
Kudos: 73





	okay

**Author's Note:**

> heyo!! i knew i couldn't sleep til i wrote this down. it may not be very good but i hope it's alright!

“Malcolm Bright, you’re under arrest.”

Cuffs are being put onto his wrists-he is being handcuffed by his _friends_ and _no, no, no,_ this is all wrong, he didn’t kill Eddie, but they’re putting cuffs on him and he can’t breathe, he can’t _breathe,_ and his hands begin to shake, the skin on his wrists already digging into the cold metal encircling them, and he _can’t breathe,_ and he stumbles forward, half-collapses, and Gil is stepping forward, and for a moment Malcolm thinks he is saved, thinks Gil will help him, but he is merely pushed back into a standing position and Gil backs away, an absolutely unreadable expression on his face. He wants to say something more... _he didn’t kill Eddie, this makes no sense,_ but he can think of nothing else to say. Nothing that will save him. He looks up at Gil, his body shaking, his breath trembling, and Malcolm thinks he sees something behind Gil’s eyes that he has never seen before. It’s pity...but it’s also disdain. _Gil thinks he did it. Gil thinks he’s a murderer. Just like his father. Oh god, Gil thinks he’s a killer._

He can think of nothing else as JT and Dani lead him out of his apartment. They aren’t needlessly rough with him, they don’t jerk him around, but their faint touches are impersonal and cold and _ they think he did it too, everyone thinks he is a killer, but they have to, don’t they? Isn’t this what they were all waiting for, silently, this whole time? For him to break, to become what everyone thinks he must be? _

But he  _ isn’t. _ He would  _ never  _ let himself be a killer, no matter what they think (no matter what  _ he thinks  _ they may think). He mutters out a vague protest, “I didn’t kill him, I couldn’t,” but what he wants to say is, “I  _ know  _ I didn’t kill him, but you all think I did, you have to, you must think I killed him, you think I’m like my father...” and they shove him into the back of a squad car, and it’s just Gil driving, alone in the car with him, Dani and JT following close behind, and he can still barely breathe, and all that runs through his mind is  _ wrong wrong wrong  _ and he is shaking so badly that he can feel his muscles tensing up. Gil is silent. 

And then they come to a stop at a red light, and Gil turns in his seat and reaches out a hand and lightly touches Malcolm’s trembling knee, and Malcolm draws in a sharp and pained breath and looks up at him, and there’s something like a broken smile on Gil’s face, and the barest hint of tears in his eyes, and he hardly sounds like he believes himself when he says, “it’s gonna be okay, kid.” And even though Gil was barging through his door with guns out, even though he is terrified that Gil thinks he is a killer, a faint hope blooms in Malcolm’s chest. Maybe it hadn’t been disdain on his face...maybe Gil didn’t think he was a killer...

“Do you...” Malcolm pauses a second to let his words get themselves in order, and takes as deep a breath as his panic will allow. “Do you think I did it? Killed Eddie?”

The light turns green and Gil drives. “I think you better have a damn good explanation as to why we found your DNA on his body.”

“But...?”

“God, kid, of  _ course  _ I don’t think you killed him. I know you, Malcolm, and you are not a killer. You might have roughed him up a little, maybe, but I know you would never take a life. I  _ know  _ you. But we have to do this, okay? We have to figure out what really happened.”

He’s still trembling, his breathing still isn’t  _ nearly  _ slow or deep enough, and his friends may think he is a monster. He is  _ terrified  _ and  _ hurt  _ and the tears that drip down his face burn like they are holy and he is the devil, but Gil doesn’t think he is a killer, and that is all that matters. “Okay,” Malcolm says, and it feels like he’s agreeing to something, but he doesn’t know what it is. He closes his eyes and leans his head against the seat. “Okay.” 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!! i really needed to write this, also i know malcolm's thoughts might seem a bit all over the place but i meant for them to feel like that but it might kinda have sucked. sorry. feel free to lmk your thoughts!!


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